Yukon Kuskokwim Nushagak science

The City of Bethel did not participate.

State Pandemic Influenza Summits

One of the major issues discussed at the summit was stockpiling of antivirals and personal protective equipment (PPE). Alaska has only 24 hospitals and 1400 hospital beds, which serve 300 communities. Some of these communities are not on the road system and are only accessible by airplane. It is therefore imperative for these isolated communities to have access to antivirals and PPE before a pandemic closes transportation routes. Alaska plans to stockpile these items in a centralized location, and will move the supplies to regional hub communities if and when the WHO elevates the pandemic alert phase.

Throughout the summer, the state Department of Health and Social Services, in cooperation with partners in the state homeland security agency and the tribal health system, will conduct a statewide outreach program in 15 hub communities across Alaska. This program will assist with the development or revision of local emergency plans to support response to a pandemic, and will include tabletop exercises to help local responders assess their readiness. [emphasis added]

2006 Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Issue Report: State Pandemic Influenza Summits
State Pandemic Influenza Summits: Building Partnerships for Pandemic Preparedness
Retrieved 2006 July 28 from http://www.ASTHO.org Pandemic Preparedness Report.

Site Search Tags: Alaska, Bethel, rural, disaster

A project funded by the NSF Arctic Social Sciences program entitled White Plague: A Historical Ethnography of Tuberculosis Among Yup’ik Peoples of Southwestern Alaska examines the social effects of tuberculosis (TB). This disease was endemic in the Alaska Native population during the 19th century. Due to increasingly sustained contact with outsiders, by the mid 20th century it had reached epidemic proportions, devastating many rural communities. In the 1930s, one out of three Alaska Natives died of TB. In southwestern Alaska, Yup’ik people had one of the highest reported incidence and prevalence rates in the world. By the 1950s, it was estimated that one out of every thirty indigenous Alaskans was in a tuberculosis sanatorium, most located outside of Alaska in the Seattle/Tacoma area, remaining there for two or more years….

By the mid 1950s, a massive public health campaign against TB in Alaska was well underway, and within two decades dramatic improvement occurred in both morbidity and mortality rates with the introduction of intensive control efforts, including chemotherapy, quarantine measures, and surveillance. By the 1970s, tuberculosis was no longer the primary cause of death among Alaska Natives The ways indigenous people responded in their everyday lives to the desolate circumstances and public health interventions have largely gone unexplored. Linda Green, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona, leads the Alaska-based research team collecting oral histories from community members in three villages — Hooper Bay, Chevak, and Nunapichuk — in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and interviewing public health and medical practitioners who provided services to those with TB….

After data analysis is complete, Green will write a historical ethnography focusing on how processes of modernity — specifically, changing public health and medical policies and practices — influenced a reworking of Alaska Native identity, social relations, and social organization.

For more information, contact Linda Green (lbgreen AT email DOT arizona.edu; 520-621-6291).

Witness the Arctic: Chronicles of the NSF Arctic Sciences Program Spring 2006, Volume 12 Number 1, page 4, is published biannually by ARCUS

http://www.arcus.org

Site Search Tags:
Chevak
Hooper+Bay
Nunapitchuk
orphan
Seattle
TB
tuberculosis
Yup’ik

http://www.ak-prepared.com/plans/mitigation/

Unfortunately, nearly everything is hard to find and the checklists are not well presented (why does a state of Alaska site have a dot com URL instead of dot gov?).

Basic Template for Alaska Small Community/Tribal Emergency Operations Plans
Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 1 Jan 2006 This document is a basic template for emergency operations plans for Alaskan communities developed by state homeland security officials. Small Community Model Plan Acrobat Reader Version

The MS Word format is more useful, Small Community Model Plan MS Word Version

The ways in which communities govern themselves differ widely throughout Alaska. Rural communities are often incorporated as cities, but not always. Native communities may instead choose to be governed by a tribal council. Yet others may be governed by a non-profit community association. Most native communities also have a village corporation. Each of these organizations usually owns assets needed in an emergency response. They should agree to work in unison to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies and disasters. This template presumes that to be the case.

….How would the YK Delta respond to a pandemic?

In preparation for the possibility of a pandemic, organizations in the YK Delta have joined together to plan a coordinated response.

These organizations include the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, the Association of Village Council Presidents, Bethel Regional Public Health Center, Bethel Family Clinic, other departments from the State of Alaska, and local emergency responders.

Our goal is to keep the people of the YK Delta informed with the most accurate information about any developments or risks associated with the H5N1 “bird flu” or any other possible pandemic that could impact the people of the YK Delta. In the event of a pandemic, our planning committee is focused on assuring a coordinated response and recovery to our villages in the YK Delta….

Read the entire article in the

YKHC Messenger, July 15, 2006
http://www.ykhc.org/1250.cfm

I’m glad YKHC included the reference to where one can sign up directly for the Fish & Wildlife news releases. 2006-07-28 Turns out this is not a valid address for the list-serv and the Alaska regional news service evidently no longer exists, “Instructions on how to subscribe to the fws-alaska-news listserver for the Alaska Region (Region 7). http://www.r7.fws.gov/ea/subscribing.html”

YKHC Messenger 06-06 No Bird Flu
Samples show no Bird Flu found in YK Delta … has tested 1210 samples taken from subsistence harvested birds in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area.
…

http://www.ykhc.org/1236.cfm

This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google…

from the press release in the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp. newsletter

Samples show no Bird Flu found in YK Delta

As of June 13, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with State and Federal partners, including the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation and the United States Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center laboratory in Madison Wisconsin, has tested 1,210 samples taken from subsistence harvested birds in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area….

You can subscribe to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Region listserver, to have our press releases sent to your e-mail address automatically, by sending an e-mail message to: listserv@www.fws.gov. Please indicate that you would like to subscribe to FWS-Alaska news and give your name in the body of the message.

http://tinyurl.com/ggg9o

Eskimo Troops Brace for Iraq
Alaskan Guard units are called up for the first time in decades. Villages worry about losing men.
By Sam Howe Verhovek, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

June 5, 2006
KONGIGANAK, Alaska

….In this village of 386 people, six men have been notified to report for duty next month. ..The call-up in the marshy delta country to the west reaches villages so remote that there are only two ways to get here most of the year — by airplane or snowmobile — and a third from May to September, or perhaps October in a warm year with a late freeze-up: the river.

So in places with Eskimo names such as Kongiganak, Kwigillingok and Manokotak, elder leaders and wives find themselves planning how to carry on without strong young men who serve as vital providers of food….

===========================================
I did some calculations to see what numerical impact (and ultimately biocultural impact) the call-up will have.
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This article appeared at the National Indian Health Board site which has a page on flu, http://www.nihb.org/staticpages/ index.php?page=flu, which links to the other Federal sites.

IHS Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist Available (Draft) http://www.nihb.org/article.php?story=20060316194908599
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Tuesday, May 30- Tribal Nations Preparing for the Bird Flu:

As the worldwide health community keeps an eye on the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus strain, tribal leaders learn more about how this virus could affect their communities. A recent summit was held to address the issue of a flu pandemic. How are tribal leaders being educated to protect their people? Concerns over containing it and treating it are being discussed on a global level. When it comes to the reservations, villages and communities of Native Peoples, what’s being done to share this information? Is there a way to protect your community from the so-called Bird Flu? Guests include: Jefferson Keel (Chickasaw) Lieutenant Governor/ Chickasaw Nation.

You can listen to Native America Calling LIVE on-line. Or visit the web site at

http://www.nativeamericacalling.com

for information about Native America Calling, to meet the Native America Calling staff, and to view pictures of our travels and in studio action.

The preparedness in our area has been disappointing; everyone seems to be waiting to be told what to be prepared for and how. The Feds, state, and tribal organizations have focussed on telling people the birds are safe to eat.

Our local station for NAC is KYUK, 9 AM weekdays. The toll-free number to call in the show is 1-800-99-Nativ

Reference Number: DSW2201, Year of Publication: 2006
Authors: Gruenewald, Paul; Wood, Darryl
Keywords: Alcohol Regulation, Injury, Native Americans

Citation: Wood, D.S. and Gruenewald, P.J. “Local alcohol prohibition, police presence and serious injury in isolated Alaska Native villages,” Addiction, 101(3):393-403, March 2006.

Abstract:

Aims: To consider the effects of alcohol prohibition and police presence upon serious injury in isolated Alaska Native villages.

Design: We compared rates of injury attributed to assault, self-harm, motor vehicle collisions and ‘other causes’ between villages with or without local prohibition and between villages with or without local police. Negative binomial regression was used to assess the relative effects of prohibition and police presence upon serious injury rates net of potential confounders.

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